


Just Get Down, Another Takedown

by Marks



Category: Revenge (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post-Canon, Sexual Content, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 19:04:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marks/pseuds/Marks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emily Thorne got her revenge and disappeared two years ago, leaving Nolan aimless and more than a little lost. But she's back now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Get Down, Another Takedown

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Agnes_Bean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agnes_Bean/gifts).



> Written for Agnes_Bean for Yuletide 2012, who sees canon exactly the way I do. I hope you like this!

After the Initiative crumbled and Victoria and Conrad were sent off to jail, someone from CNN shoved a microphone underneath Emily's nose and asked, "Are you happy now that the world knows your father was innocent?" And for that second before she shoved the reporter away and ran down the courthouse steps, Emily got a look on her face that clearly said happiness had never crossed her mind.

Nolan was at least five-thousand of that clip's views on YouTube, so he knew it pretty well.

It had been two years since Emily disappeared. Since Amanda disappeared? Nolan always had trouble thinking of her that way -- like David Clarke's Amanda was as dead as David was and had been for a long, long time.

For the past two years, Nolan had done a lot of trying to find himself. Of course, before she disappeared, Emily had helped him win back control of NolCorp and then the two of them took over Grayson Global, selling off pieces to the highest bidders. But then there was the trial and Ems went underground, so Nolan neglected his company as long as he could, going from country to country and leaving a guy or girl in every port. It was a fun existence, but the longer it went on, the more lost he felt. Without Emily around, Nolan lacked a purpose and he had to face that a guy like him was a pretty sad specimen without one.

It was during his third time through Paris that he suddenly called Padma and let her know he was flying back to New York that night.

"Done finding yourself?" Padma asked.

"No," Nolan said, shrugging while staring up at the Eiffel Tower. "But who ever is? See you tonight, beautiful."

+

Padma met him at the baggage carousel at JFK, looking professional and impatient.

"You know," she told him, "most people have assistants for this kind of thing. Or girlfriends."

"And I could afford either," Nolan said breezily, "but they wouldn't be you." After their breakup, which was Padma's doing but mutually agreed on, since Nolan couldn't deny that he'd been distracted and a shitty boyfriend, she'd agreed to stay on as NolCorp's CFO. This turned out to be one of the best decisions Nolan ever made because Padma was the only reason his company was still afloat. In fact, in the wake of the national David Clarke reveal, it was more profitable than ever.

Padma rolled her eyes. "You sweet talker. I've got a car waiting outside." He squeezed her hand with the one that wasn't holding his rollaway luggage and took a deep breath of the exhaust-filled Queens air.

It was good to be back.

+

Padma stayed the night in Nolan's penthouse -- they were broken up, not dead -- but left before Nolan woke up. Which, fair enough, since Nolan was still recovering from his flight and Padma had a job to get to. He'd never been much of a morning person anyway, at least not without reason.

The news was on in the background as he rummaged through his cabinets, checking if Padma had sent anyone over to stock his kitchen. Of course she had. So very competent, that girl, in so many ways.

"...only served two years of her back-to-back life sentences..."

Nolan took a swig from an orange juice carton.

"...attorneys are expected to appeal for Victoria Grayson beginning next week."

Nolan didn't spit out his juice or drop the carton with a thud, but he really, really wanted to.

"It's an outrage," said a talking head onscreen.

"Well, that's an understatement," muttered Nolan.

+

Bedford Hills didn't look much like the juvenile facility where Nolan had turned over half a billion dollars and all of David Clarke's secrets to his sullen daughter, but Nolan couldn't help but be reminded of Emily's scowling face as he was escorted to a row of visitor cubicles, especially when Victoria Grayson's own scowling face stared back at him. Nolan resisted the urge to wince; that was pretty much the Grayson equivalent of baring his throat, and he was sure Victoria would have no problem ripping it out. They picked up their phones so they could be heard through the six inches of bulletproof glass.

"Nolan," Victoria said coolly. Even in an orange prison jumpsuit, she was still poised and put together. Nolan sort of felt like she was visiting him instead of the other way around, but Nolan smiled broadly and rested his chin in his hands. He could still play the game.

"Hello, Victoria," he purred. "Trying to leave the prison party so soon? It feels like you just got here."

Victoria narrowed her eyes. "News travels quickly still, I see. You know I don't belong here. I was a victim of the Initiative's machinations as much as Amanda Clarke was."

Nolan laughed. "You mean the little girl whose silence you bought by bribing her psychiatrists and getting her sent to juvie for a decade? Don't even try it, Victoria. I'll make sure you never get out of here, even if no one ever sees Emily again.

To Nolan's surprise, Victoria's eyebrows went up and the barest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "You mean you don't know?"

Nolan didn't know what she meant, but refused to let her see him caught off-guard. "What do you think I wouldn't know? Knowing is kind of my thing."

"Well, I just assumed she sent you here as her envoy."

Despite himself, Nolan felt his smile falter a bit. "Her?" he asked breezily. "Her who?"

"Why, Emily Thorne, of course," Victoria said. "She's made her reappearance. Oh. Mr. Ross, I see this has come as a shock."

A guard tapped Nolan on the shoulder. "Time's up."

Nolan wordlessly hung up his phone, ignoring Victoria's merry wave from the other side of the glass.

+

Page Six of the Post the next morning would have proved Victoria right if Nolan hadn't already spent most of the night online, poring over every recent mention of Emily. He didn't know when he'd gotten so out of the loop that someone serving out two life sentences was more on top of things. But of course, this was Victoria Grayson, so not your usual inmate.

Buzz had Emily at a charity banquet on the Upper East Side, benefiting lung cancer research, a cause Nolan happened to give to generously. Because of this, it only took seconds of string-pulling to get himself added to the list.

"Hiding in plain sight, Ems?" Nolan said to himself. "How long did you think I'd stay away?"

+

Nolan dressed to the nines, going for a green tux, ascot, and white wingtips over the black tie of the other men in attendance. As far as Nolan was concerned, penguins made a splash in the Arctic, but not so much sartorially. He milled around, making small talk with some acquaintances, answering a couple of questions about his world travels or what was planned for NolCorp's next fiscal year. It was pretty much the most mind-numbing shit that Nolan could think of. Sometimes he almost missed being penniless, coding at three in the morning and dressed in threadbare sweatpants and too-big flannel shirts that had cost a dollar at Goodwill. In those days he was fueled totally by coffee and ambition, and he wondered if the last ten years had made him too soft and jaded. But like Amanda Clarke's innocence, those days were long dead.

Then Emily walked into the room.

Nolan wanted to tell himself he didn't notice her the second she made her entrance, that his whole world didn't freeze in that moment, but it would have been a big fat lie. Emily was even more stunning than he remembered, her hair in loose waves tumbling over shoulders left bare in her Oscar de la Renta ballgown and smiling widely to every person who welcomed her back into the world that neither of them belonged to.

It was the longest fifteen minutes of his life, but Nolan deliberately ignored Emily for that long. He pretended to be engrossed in conversation with a vice-president of ConEd, asking after potential green fuel investments, though the last three minutes were just a lot of nodding and smiling on his part.

"Excuse me," Nolan said politely after his self-imposed time limit was up, "I think I see someone I haven't seen in a very long time." He crossed the room swiftly, making his way over to the bar and elbowing his way in between Emily and yet another of the penguin men in attendance to order two drinks from the bartender. The guy was handsome in a bland way, but he also had an offended look on his face because of Nolan's rude behavior. Oh well. It wasn't like everyone in the world had to like him. Luckily, the guy was too polite to elbow his way back in, instead shuffling off without saying a word.

"Hello, Nolan," Emily said warmly. She took the martini Nolan offered up wordlessly, and for a split-second it was as if no time had passed between them. It was just another day, just the Hamptons party of the week.

"Emily Thorne," Nolan said. "Fancy meeting you here. Or are you going by Amanda again?"

Emily shook her head. "Emily's fine. I've gotten used to it."

"As you wish, m'lady." Nolan gave an exagerrated bow. "And what do we owe the pleasure? Last I'd heard, you'd taken yourself completely off the grid with no way for anyone -- _anyone_ \-- to contact you."

"I'm sorry. I can explain."

Nolan smiled. "Well, I'm sure it will be good. Your excuses -- I'm sorry -- reasons always are."

Emily sighed. "Nolan, please, I can take the cold shoulder from just about anyone, but I'd expect you of all people to understand why I had to escape for awhile. I'd forgotten a lot about myself."

And Nolan did get that; he'd been on his own fruitless journey of self-discovery, hadn't he? Nolan's shoulders sagged. It was very, very difficult for him to stay mad at Emily, especially since she was right; she did have more reason to be angry at the whole world than anyone else he knew. He just wished he hadn't been a casualty in that self-imposed isolation.

"So you're back now because of Victoria, I suppose."

Emily nodded. "I should have figured you'd already know. I can't have her dishonoring my father's memory even more than she already has. But it's not really a good time now." She touched Nolan's elbow. "Nolan, tonight I'm heading back to the Hamptons. There's an art auction with a Picasso expensive enough to explain your appearance there."

"Is it one of the puzzle-piece women?"

"Blue period, actually," Emily said. "You should come and we can talk after."

Nolan nodded. "Yeah, okay," he agreed, and Emily smiled. It wasn't her fake working-the-room-and-everyone-inside-it smile, either, which genuinely surprised him. He watched her after she left, his back to the bar while he downed what was left of his drink. Then he ordered another and watched her some more. Nolan watched her the rest of the night, actually, but if Emily noticed, she didn't let on.

+

When Nolan arrived the next night, Emily wasn't there yet. He'd been fashionably late and everything, even if that was more due to a mix-up at his hotel than any plan on his part. Still, after hearing the concierge's profuse apologies, he thought he'd wasted enough time that Emily at least would be saving him a seat when he walked in. No such luck, though.

Nolan slid into an empty row, getting the shock of his life when Daniel Grayson slid in beside him. Daniel wasn't precisely Nolan's friend; in fact, after Danny-boy had staged a parental coup at Grayson Global by taking over NolCorp, Nolan pretty much decided he hated Daniel's guts.

"I know what you're thinking," Daniel said.

"I _really_ doubt that."

"I deserve that. But please, hear me out. This has been a long time coming, but I'd like to apologize for my behavior around the time of the NolCorp takeover. It was nothing personal -- I was trying to get one over on my parents and you were just cannon fodder."

"Are you sure this is an apology?"

"It is, it is. I'm truly sorry for the way I treated you, but even more sorry for the way my parents treated Emily. My mother's recent desperation hasn't gone unnoticed and I hope you know I'm on Emily's side here."

"Which is a roundabout way of asking..."

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" Daniel asked. "But I swear, this is an olive branch, nothing more. I just wanted you to know that whatever Charlotte and I can do to assure that our mother remains behind bars, we'll do it."

Nolan nodded grudgingly. "I guess it's to your advantage that she stays there, too."

"It's not that," Daniel said. Nolan raised one eyebrow. "Well, not _only_ that. Our parents ruined scores of lives, and thought they were untouchable. They _both_ need to pay their debt to society." Daniel clenched his jaw. "Many times over."

"I'll think about it. Talk it over with --"

"Christ, she looks good," Daniel interrupted.

Emily had finally made her entrance, of course, slipping in seconds before the first item went upnfor bidding. Daniel wore the same lovesick puppy expression he had when he and Emily were engaged. It sent a white-hot flash of jealousy shooting through Nolan's stomach. Sure, Nolan had always carried a torch for Emily -- who hadn't? But it always had been idle what-ifs more than anything approaching real feelings. The intensity of his reaction to Daniel sort of scared him.

When the auction was all over, Nolan had won two paintings and a marble nude, more because he could than because he wanted them. He knew he'd always be new money to these people, but he wasn't about to be ashamed of that.

"Are you putting those in your place in Manhattan?" Emily asked him at the reception afterward. To his surprise, she made no moves toward socializing with the crowd, instead sipping champagne and sticking close to Nolan's side. "I could see the sculpture in your front hall."

Nolan shrugged. "Maybe I'll leave them in the Hamptons. I was thinking of buying again. I know the market's always tight here, but no one's lived in Grayson Manor for a long time."

Emily smiled against the rim of her glass. "Just like the old days," she said. "Speaking of, I'm back in my house, too."

He'd known Emily hadn't sold the beach house, but was still surprised she was living there again. "Even with all the... memories?"

" _Because_ of the memories," Emily said fiercely. "The good ones were there, too."

"I'm glad you haven't forgotten that," Nolan said.

"I refuse to let myself." Emily put down her glass. "Did you want to get out of here? I've got something at home to show you and we'll have privacy there."

"Lead the way," Nolan said, trying to keep his expression neutral as Emily reached down to grab his hand and pull him from the room. Nolan didn't miss Daniel Grayson's expression as they left, either.

+

Emily's house looked just as Nolan remembered it, frozen in time. She must have had someone looking after it while she was gone because there was nothing hinting that its owner had been missing, not even dusty shelves.

"Did you want any coffee?" Emily asked, ducking behind the kitchen island.

"Got anything stronger?" Nolan asked. He made himself comfortable on the couch.

Emily popped back up with a bottle of scotch and two glasses in hand. "Of course."

"Always prepared."

Nolan took his glass from Emily as she settled down next to him on the couch. She immediately leaned forward and flipped open her laptop.

"So, I know you have questions," Emily said.

"Well, obviously, but the big ones are the most obvious. Namely, where the hell have you been and why didn't you tell me you were going?"

"At first, I was just enjoying my freedom. I travelled, same as you. But eventually, I found myself heading back to Takeda," Emily said. "I hadn't ever planned on going back there, but Takeda wasn't surprised to see me."

Nolan peered over Emily's shoulder. She was opening documents and surveillance footage; Nolan caught a couple of familiar names -- Takeda, Grayson, even NolCorp.

"The thing is, Nolan, I don't think this will ever be done, but I _wanted_ to be. I _wanted_ to come back to New York and just try being Amanda Clarke. I thought I'd only be gone for a month or two when I first left, and that's why I didn't tell you anything. Disappearing for a month wouldn't have fazed you, right?"

"No, of course not, Ems," Nolan said. "But you could have told me you wanted out for a while. I wouldn't have bothered you. I thought you knew you could trust me."

"Trust isn't something I'm good at," Emily said. "But if I had to say I trusted anyone, it would be you. And Aiden."

Aiden. There was a name Nolan hadn't heard in a long time, not that he particularly missed hearing it. "Where is Aiden in all this, anyway? Did he know where you were?"

Emily nodded. "For a time. He came with me." No surprises there, and Nolan pretended that didn't bother him. "Nolan, Aiden's dead." Now _that_ , that was a surprise. "I thought... I thought with the Initiative in pieces, maybe both of us had a shot at normalcy. We were in Greece together for about two months, and I almost forgot about everything I'd been through. I forgot that my father died because of those people, at least for a little while. But in the end, we weren't safe. I guess I was too high-profile or something, but I came back to our house one day and he was just gone. I hoped that he was underground somewhere, or kidnapped, but every lead led..."

"To a dead end," Nolan finished. "Literally. Jesus, Emily, I'm sorry." He hadn't loved Aiden or anything, but he certainly didn't wish him dead. At least not _really_.

"Takeda thinks it was a message to me," Emily said. "The Initiative is always going to be out there, somewhere, and so I thought I had to go back. I had to get stronger again, had to be ready for anything. But this time Takeda wasn't what I needed. I got my revenge his way; this time it needs to be for me. So I left and went completely off the grid. My father had some holdings in Switzerland that were completely untraceable, acquired before he even signed exclusivity with Grayson. I'd occasionally contact the outside world, seeing if I was ready to make my reappearance, and then this whole Victoria thing happened. But her scheming isn't the reason I'm here; it was just the excuse I needed to return." She put her hand over Nolan's. "I'm back now, and I refuse to be anyone but me. Do you get that?"

"Not entirely," Nolan admitted. "But you know that I'm with you one-hundred percent, no matter what it is."

"I know," Emily said. "That's why I came to you."

This was definitely Emily, but something had changed. Nolan felt off-balance around her, which was no new feeling, but while he was used to Emily being driven, her being so centered was something else entirely. It was like an aura of control radiated from her. Nolan finished his drink in a gulp and filled the glass again. When he looked up, Emily was watching him. She leaned forward and pressed a quick, firm kiss against his lips, no open mouth or really any funny business at all, more like she was performing an experiment on Nolan. It left him feeling dizzy and confused.

"What was--"

"Here, let me show you what I've been up to," Emily interrupted him to point at her laptop screen, like nothing out of sorts had happened. On it were two years worth of tracking Initiative movement, culminating with the news that Victoria was seeking to overturn her conviction. "I don't know if Victoria thinks she can prey on some sympathy because she was in love with my father, or if she's planning on throwing money at the problem until it goes away, but I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen ever. Victoria will never see the outside of a jail cell if I can help it."

Just then Nolan's phone buzzed his pocket, while Emily's dinged on the kitchen counter. They both looked at each other, and Nolan dug out his phone.

It was an urgent news alert: _Victoria Grayson stabbed inside prison walls, transported Northern Westchester Hospital for immediate treatment_. Emily set her mouth in a straight line.

"Can't help everything," Nolan said.

+

Nolan offered up his driver, but Emily wanted to drive to Westchester herself. There was no discussion that they _wouldn't_ go; Nolan knew her well enough for the, and besides, Nolan was pretty curious if this meant ding-dong the witch was dead, too. Truthfully, Nolan was happy for the distraction, since that meant he had no time to dwell on what part of Emily's plan _he_ fell into.

It took two hours to get there, even that late at night, and of course they couldn't see her. Besides Victoria being an inmate, Nolan and Emily weren't exactly next of kin. Nolan leaned against the wall closest to the doors leading to the ER, settling in for some good old-fashioned eavesdropping while Emily texted furiously on her phone. Eventually a nurse let it slip that Victoria was in stable condition.

"No shock," Nolan said. "It's hard to get blood from a rock no matter how hard you stab it."

"This is a trap," Emily said. She had a hard look in her eyes that brought Nolan back two years, five, ten.

+

Daniel showed up after an hour and a half. He was the one Emily had been texting earlier, as it turned out, and he looked like he'd left somewhere in a hurry.

"I got here as soon as I could," Daniel said. He offered Emily his hand to help her up out of the waiting room chair. Nolan scowled at them. "Thank you for alerting me. I'm sorry I hadn't heard about my mother sooner; I was already heading back to the city."

Emily smiled tightly. "I'm surprised no one else let you know."

"Texting and driving is dangerous," Nolan said sullenly.

Daniel ignored him. "My mother and I haven't been on good terms for a long time, as you know. I suppose no one thought I'd care about her life, but no matter what's gone on between us, she's still my mother." Daniel went to the nurse's desk to try and get information, and was whisked away moments later.

"What are you doing?" Nolan asked.

"It's his mother. He has a right to know."

"For all you know, this broken mother and son thing is all an act. Or maybe this is a trick to get him to reconcile with her; we both know that's happened before."

Emily shook her head. "Daniel's capable of a lot of things, but he's not a doublecrosser."

Nolan laughed. "Need I remind you of a little hostile takeover he orchestrated?"

"He wouldn't doublecross _me_ ," Emily amended, and Nolan had to admit she was probably right. Even after all this time, Daniel was still under her thumb, right where she wanted him.

Daniel came back out, looking somewhat shaken. "She's unconscious," Daniel said. "The knife went right through one of her kidneys and doctors had to remove it. She lost a lot of blood."

Nolan almost mentioned that she lost something with a built-in spare, but it didn't matter because Emily did it for him. "Daniel, don't you think the timing on this is a little suspect?"

For a split-second, Daniel looked torn, but he didn't have time to reply because Charlotte ran into the hospital waiting room then, her eyes blazing. "What's that bitch up to this time?" she asked angrily.

"Charlotte, calm down," Daniel said.

"Emily!" Charlotte said, surprised. She went right over to her half-sister and grabbed her hands. "Or is it Amanda now?"

Emily shook her head. "Emily's fine."

"I had no idea -- I've been studying for finals. Columbia has kind of eaten my brains and Daniel said he was going to take care of the whole appeal thing, but when he called me on his way here..."

"It's my fault, I should have let you know I came home," said Emily. "I've been kind of busy since I've been back, too." She exchanged glances with Nolan, who felt like he was eavesdropping on this conversation, too.

"Of course. You know that whatever this is --" Charlotte waved her hands around, gesturing at the hospital room. "Whatever Mother has planned, I don't want you to think I support it. It's her fault I never knew my father-- _our_ father. Daniel and I will do whatever we can to make sure she goes back to prison and stays there."

Daniel nodded. Nolan could see his resolve from earlier had returned with his sister's arrival. "Did you want to see her?" Daniel asked.

"She's awake?" Charlotte asked.

"No," Daniel said, "but she's stable. It-- whatever happened it looked pretty serious."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I'm very sure it did."

"Come on, Charlotte. The time for making Mother pay can wait until she's stronger," Daniel said. "I meant what I said before, no matter what's happening here," Daniel told Nolan. He turned to Emily and touched her elbow, giving her a wan smile. "Whatever you need, I'm here for you. Thank you again for bringing this to my attention." Daniel put his hand on Charlotte's back and led her towards the nurse's desk so they could check in.

"Let's get out of here," Emily declared, staring after the Grayson kids. "There's nothing else we can do here, I don't think. We're closer to the city than the Hamptons now. Mind if I crash at your place?"

Nolan shook his head. "No, but my guest room is a total mess. There's not even a bed in there right now. You can have my room; I'll take the couch."

Emily waved her hand. "That's not necessary," she said.

This was shaping up to be a really confusing night.

+

In the spirit of understatement, Nolan described his night as restless. Emily seemed to have no such problem, kicking off her Zanotti heels and sifting through Nolan's closet until she found a plaid flannel button-down that Nolan hadn't worn since 1998. When she reemerged from Nolan's bathroom wearing his shirt, she didn't seem to notice his staring, instead sliding between the sheets and dozing off immediately, even with the lights still on. Apparently when Emily Thorne gets in bed with someone, she sleeps the sleep of the dead, which wasn't something Nolan had previously assumed. Or maybe it was just him she did that with, though he wasn't about to give himself that much credit.

Nolan turned off all the lights and got into bed himself, and must have eventually drifted off, too, though he didn't remember when. He did remember staring at Emily's face, relaxed and open in the gray dim of his bedroom, and that was what he was doing again now as the first rays of sunshine started poking through his drawn blinds. She drooled on his pillow, he noticed, which was somehow charming. Nolan's world was mixed-up and turned upside down just from Emily's reappearance, which in and of itself wasn't a surprise. He was used to Emily's plans fucking up his life somehow, and furthermore, he was used to _enjoying_ that. But the way this was all playing out was beyond his wildest dreams. Nolan was still waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under him.

Emily made a mmm-ing sound and rolled onto her back to stretch like a cat. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled when she caught Nolan still staring at her. "Morning," she said, her voice rough with sleep.

"Hello," Nolan said back. He meant to keep his voice steady, but it squeaked a bit on the second syllable, like he was fourteen again and waiting for puberty to stop throwing him for a loop. This was so awkward, but if Emily felt that way, she certainly wasn't letting on.

"Your bed is really great," Emily said. "I haven't slept that well in -- God, years. After Victoria's whole fiasco last night, I figured I'd be awake for the next three days."

"You didn't miss anything," Nolan assured her.

Emily stretched her arms over her head again. "Were you up all night?"

"No," Nolan said. "I guess I caught a couple of hours altogether. I'm not completely sure."

"Thanks for everything," Emily said, rolling toward Nolan to give him another chaste, closed-mouth kiss, like the one they shared back at her house the night before. Nolan touched his mouth as Emily rolled out of bed and helped herself to his shower.

+

Nolan was making breakfast when Emily joined him, wearing another outfit he hadn't seen since the nineties, her hair still damp from the shower.

"I do have a hair dryer," he told her.

"Of course you would," Emily said. "I'm okay this way."

"It's a good look for you," Nolan said. He scraped scrambled eggs onto two plates and turned off the burner. He cleared his throat. "Ems, not to ruin a good thing, but what are you -- _we_ \-- doing here?"

Emily grabbed a plate. "What do you mean?" she asked between mouthfuls of egg.

Nolan sighed in annoyance. It wasn't like her to play dumb. "The sleeping in my bed thing. Wearing my clothes and kissing. _That_. Since when do we do that?"

"Does it bother you?"

"No," Nolan admitted. "Not at all. It's just not what I've come to expect from you."

Emily put down her plate and stepped closer to Nolan, putting her hand on his chest. Nolan looked down at her fingers playing with the buttons on his shirt and swallowed hard.

"I've had a lot of time to think the last couple of years," she said. "And the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was only one person who's been there the entire time, expecting nothing back from me."

"I still don't expect anything," Nolan said, closing his eyes as Emily slid her hand up to his jaw.

"I _know_ that, Nolan," Emily said, pulling his head down. "It's kind of obvious." She kissed him for a third time, but this one was different. Nolan had to grip the counter for balance as Emily shoved him up against it, opening his mouth with her tongue.

The next twenty minutes went by in blur. Nolan's breakfast clattered to the floor, forgotten, as Emily hopped up onto the counter. They barely stopped kissing long enough to breathe, pausing only so Emily could give orders like "take those off, Nolan" and "put your hips into it" and "harder" and, finally, just "more, God, more." Of course Emily was bossy in bed -- or in kitchen; it was just one more thing to love about her.

The afterglow left Nolan shaking and sweaty and, well, glowing.

+

Nolan and Emily hit the pavement fifteen minutes later, that familiar, giddy revenge-plans-in-motion feeling making Nolan's toes curl. It took bribing two bartenders, three Riker's employees, and sneaking ten cartons of cigarettes to one of Victoria's old now-behind-bars lackeys, but eventually the truth came tumbling out and the puzzle pieces fit together nicely.

Emily called Daniel to relay the news. "Your mother paid all the right people to get hurt, hoping to get more sympathy from the appeals board while never actually having her life in danger. It just goes to show the lengths that she'll go to for herself. And now we have all the proof we need to keep her in jail."

Nolan felt pretty satisfied. It was yet another case of money beating money with more money, pretty much the only game these people were capable of playing. "Tell your mother she looks _fabulous_ in orange," he called in the background.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Ignore him," she told Daniel. "No, thank you for all of your help." She hung up and was silent, a satisfied little smile playing at her lips.

"Another case closed," Nolan said, brushing off his hands. He sat next to Emily. "I hope having Victoria out of the way again doesn't mean you're going back underground." Nolan tried to keep his voice light, but knew he sounded worried. Well, fuck it. He _was_ worried.

Emily shook her head. "No," she said, "but things -- for me, between you and me, between me and anyone, really -- will never be normal. Are you all right with that?"

Nolan leaned back against the couch, crossing one leg over the other. "Normal is boring," he declared, "and you could never be boring, Ems." He reached over and squeezed her hand; she squeezed back.

"Thank you," Emily said.

"Oh, it's nothing," Nolan said, knowing it was anything but. "Besides, it's not like I'll ever be able to keep up with you. But that doesn't mean I'll ever stop trying."


End file.
